Seems, the Redmond giant will have troubles ahead as Bill Koefoed, head of investor relations at Microsoft has issued a warning that sales of personal computers in the fourth quarter of 2011 might have been lower than analyst’s expectations.   

However, Microsoft was expecting to see a jump of 5 percent for PC sales during the last quarter of 2011.

It is reportedly said that floods in Thailand are the responsible factor. Floods have shut down a number of hard drive factories in the country. Thailand is an important export hub for industries such as automotive and electronics. The country is experiencing very strong monsoon rainfalls, exacerbated by the remnants of three typhoons - Nok-Ten, Nesat and Nalgae since July 2011.

Analysts quote; floods are taking a toll on a PC market which is already suffering from competition from mobile computing devices like smartphones and tablets.  Acknowledging the latest trend of mobile computing devices, Microsoft is deliberately working on a new operating system, Windows 8, which is specifically designed to work on tablets, helping it compete with its arch rival Apple.

The news caused a big drop in Microsoft's stock price.

ITVoir NewsDesk